One Future

One Future is the people’s campaign for faster and fairer climate action

We need to deliver positive transformation within a short period of time. We want energy, transport, housing, food and economic systems that have zero climate impact. Through strategic investment, our communities can flourish, with improved public services, greater equality and social justice. Using our influence internationally, Ireland can become a powerful voice for faster and fairer global climate action.

Faster and Fairer Climate Action

Pollution from burning fossil fuels has caused the earth’s climate to become dangerously unbalanced. We can see the impact in Ireland and around the world in increasingly extreme floods, droughts, storms and heatwaves. Wherever you are in the world, it is always those who are most disadvantaged who are most affected by these disasters.

Most people agree that climate action is a priority.

Climate Action does not need to be a trade off against better quality of life and opportunity. Fairer Climate Action means more investing in housing, public sevices and transport, and they are warmer houses, better public sevices and cleaner transport, providing us with a healthier environment and more productive economy. Fairer Climate Action means job creation, better public services and growth in a new, clean economy.

Faster

According to the UN, current climate action pledges are completely inadequate. The world is on course for global heating of more than 3°C, which would bring climate chaos, profound disruption of human life on earth and mass extinction of wildlife. To prevent this, the UN calculates we need to reduce global emissions by 7.6 per cent a year, year-on-year, from now to 2030. Rich countries, who have done more to cause climate change, will have to reduce emissions even faster. Postponing radical action is morally indefensible, and in the end makes it more abrupt, more disruptive and more expensive.

Ireland has been a laggard on climate action, dragging our heels and missing our targets. In the last couple of years however, civil society campaigning, the Citizens’ Assembly and the special all-party committee on climate action have laid the ground for a step change in Irish climate policy. 

The Government’s 2019 Climate Action Plan is a step forward, but it is nowhere near enough. Its measures amount to an average of 2% a year reductions in our emissions from now to 2030, when the very least Ireland has to achieve is the equivalent of an 8% reduction each year.

We are simply asking Ireland to do its fair share. It is in our vital national interest to do so. As a small island state exposed to the North Atlantic, and as a small open economy exposed to international markets, global climate breakdown will have drastic impacts on Irish society. We need the world to address climate change. It is clearly in our interest, finally, to commit to playing our part.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2018 report concluded that limiting global warming to 1.5ºC requires “rapid, far reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society … land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities.”

Fairer

We can see that climate change exacerbates existing inequalities, hitting those with less power and money harder. It is also the case that badly designed climate action can exacerbate existing inequalities. This is particularly the case when Governments rely first and foremost on taxes and subsidies to incentivise individual behaviour change. Those with lower disposable income or other disadvantages, or without easy access to lower carbon options, are harder hit by carbon taxes and less able to avail of individual grants for electric cars and solar panels.

When Governments shrink from leadership on climate action and push responsibility onto individuals, either through ideology or inertia, it is not surprising that many people see climate action as an unfair cost and burden.

Getting to zero climate pollution in time is a collective societal project, not a matter of lifestyle choice. It will require substantial Government investment to transform our transport, housing and energy systems, especially in public transport, social housing and community energy. Beyond reducing pollution, It will bring immediate benefits to all parts of the country in the form of warmer homes, better bus, train, cycling and walking infrastructure, as well as opportunities to share in the ownership of a clean energy system that can power our future.

Who are One Future?

The One Future Campaign grew out of conversations between the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition and other civil society umbrella organisations (such as the National Women's Council and USI) and with grassroots climate activists (such as Not Here Not Anywhere and Love Leitrim).

One Future is coordinated by the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, which is based in the offices of Friends of the Earth.

Umbrella Organisations supporting One Future:
National Women's Council of Ireland (NWCI), Union of Students in Ireland (USI), Dóchas - the association of non-governmetnal development organisations, Environmental Pillar,  Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, Sustainable Water Network, and Fridays for Future Ireland.

Founding supporters:
An Taisce, Birdwatch Ireland, Christian Aid Ireland, Concern Worldwide, Cork Climate Action, Cultivate, Cyclist.ie, Dundrum Climate Vigil, ECO UNESCO, Feasta, Foodture, Friends of the Earth, Futureproof Clare, Goal, Happenings, Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, Latin America Solidarity Centre, Love Leitrim, Not Here Not Anywhere, Oxfam Ireland, Safety Before LNG, Spun Out.

Supporting organisations

Irish Doctors for Environment, Cultivate / Sustainable Ireland Cooperative, Django's Hostel, An Taisce - the National Trust for Ireland, Sustainable Projects Ireland CLG, Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, Oxfam Ireland, Cyclist.ie, Birdwatch, Christian Aid, USI, NWCI, Wicklow Planning Alliance, The Bike Circus, Clonakilty, Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, Just Forests, VOICE OF Irish Concern for the Environment, Friends of the Earth Ireland, Faiths for Climate Action, Tuistí Don Todhchaí /Parents For Future Ireland, Love Leitrm, AnnaB.ie, Union of Students in Ireland, BirdWatch Ireland, Dóchas, Safety before LNG, Tipperary Energy Agency, Aran Islands Energy Co-operative, Concern Worlwide, Fridays for Future, Foodture, Not Here Not Anywhere, Cork Climate Action, Macalla Farm, Community Power, GOAL, Fuinniv Independent Consulting, Westport EcoCongregation, The Sustainable Water Network (SWAN), LASC (Latin America Solidarity Centre), ECO-UNESCO, Happenings, Native Events, Wild about, SpunOut.ie, Dundrum Climate Vigil, Futureproof Clare, Trinity Church Network, Tearfund Ireland, Diem25, The Sanctuary, Irish Environmental Network, An Mheitheal Rothar, Geashill Tidy Towns, Pedestrian Cork, Sonairte - the National Ecology Centre Sustainability Works ACET Ireland, Dublin Friends of the Earth

Your organisation can register as a supporter of Faster and Fairer Climate Action by filling out this simple form.